This article discusses ways of perceiving subtle features within landscapes and of transposing them into hypermedia. It sets out to examine the problems encountered when navigating, recording, and analysing forms of landscape-related artefacts such as prehistoric 'monuments', land art, sculpture parks, and landscaped gardens. In particular, techniques for examining and recording both the local properties - including texture, form, weathering, and construction techniques - and the wider properties such as relationship of artefacts to their site, topography, inter-visibility etc., are considered. As a pilot study, Apple Computer's QuickTimeVR technology has been used to record several representative landscapes, including some of the prehistoric carved rock art of Yorkshire and Northumberland, with particular reference to inter-visibility between sites. The recordings are examined with reference to the local and wider properties of the sites and the landscapes that contain them to determine how successfully the technique captures their features for remote viewing.
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* Formerly: Institute of Design
University of Teesside
Currently:
Innovation North Faculty
Leeds Metropolitan University
Civic Quarter
Leeds LS1 3HE
B.Larkman@leedsmet.ac.uk